Leaving room for nature: creating a plant selection framework to maximize habitat in the suburban landscape of Athens-Clarke county

This thesis seeks to utilize theories on habitat fragmentation, and human constructed ecosystems to create a model framework for plant selection that maximizes positive ecological impact for small scale, private, suburban properties. As the built environment continues to grow, it leaves an indelible mark on the landform and its ecology. While many focus on large-scale, converting underutilized public spaces, brownfields, and junk spaces into essential wildlife habitat and patchwork connections through heavily fragmented urban areas, there are also extensive possibilities utilizing the yards of property owners in suburban and ex-urban communities. It uses classifications methods to collect, and catalogue land-use characteristics, species habitat requirements, and plant species ecological functions, and it uses GIS modeling based off of suitability parameters derived from the habitat requirements of the reference ecosystems to assess potential opportunities for each ecosystem archetype to provide habitat patches in the suburban land use matrix. These potential patches and habitat plant requirements were cross-referenced to generate a planting framework.